Before working at i24 Call Management Solutions, I imagined a call centre to be endless rows of cubicles of college tuition slaves in headsets.
I knew a call centre answered phones for companies.
But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
I also made the common mistake of confusing Call Centres withTelemarketing.
Definition: Call Centre vs. Telemarketing
i24 Call Management Solutions is an inbound call centre.
Callers initiate the calls. They usually seek information, want to leave a message or are requesting service.
At a telemarketing company, the agents initiate the calls.
They call a list of current customers to up-sell products and services or cold call a list of prospects with no affiliation with the company.
How do you Call Centre shop if you don’t know what you need?
You can’t.
It’s up to businesses to ‘school’ you.
We have to get inside your head and anticipate your needs beyond the obvious.
We have to be clear about our products and services.
If we don’t know what we’re selling, our potential customers (if we still have any) won’t either.
You may call i24 to inquire about “answering services.”
Why wouldn’t you?
Browse through our website, and you’ll understand why Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine would never pass the first job interview.
i24 answers your after hour calls,
– saves people from “voicemail” hell,
– manages your website email forms and
– monitors your off-site workers.
Some things you may not know about our Call Centre:
We answer the phone.
Duh!
What’s not so obvious is the risk you take in not outsourcing your call management.
You think you may be saving money by having an employee on “call” on their cell phone after hours. But you will be risking revenue if that employee is at a party, playing a loud video game or flushing the toilet when that client call comes through.
We respond to your website contact forms.
If you have a business website, you likely have a “contact us” page.
Are you risking revenue by not rapidly responding to those web submissions?
“Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead (which we defined as having a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker) as those that tried to contact the customer even an hour later—and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or longer. ~ Havard Business Review
We monitor off-site workers
Why would you have a Call Centre involved in managing your remote workers?
Wouldn’t you want to be alerted when your off-site team member is on site, running late or needs help?
We’re an “HOLD-FREE” call environment
Many centres continue to work in a two – or even three line call environment. The result is agents having to juggle between callers.
i24 agents never put people on hold to respond to other calls.
No more “one moment please” as we handle your calls from beginning to end.
Think of us as your virtual receptionist.
We offer advanced data management
We collect a lot of data answering your calls so why not use it to help you grow your business.
Turn the data we collect into your own management tool to:
Track caller results
Discover trends
Identify problems
I24 generates custom reports on any aspect of a call:
Territory
Product Type
Categories
Advertising Sources
Demographics
Progressive Billing
Pay only for what you use – No Packages!
i24 offers a progressive billing structure. This results in your costs dropping as your usage increases.
With “packages”, you’re left with unused, paid-for minutes at the end of each month.
They’re not carried forward. They’re lost.
With Progressive Billing you only pay for what you use.
I learned a lot about call centres since first sitting down with Gary and the team.
My biggest takeaway was something I learned as a consultant.
There is no “one size fits all”.
That goes for hats, for pantyhose (don’t ask) and for clients.
At i24, we don’t make assumptions about our clients.
We assess each one’s needs then customized a solution.
There are things that i24 ‘doesn’t know it doesn’t know’ which is why we’re always asking questions.
I learned that “Call Centre” is a bit of a misnomer, especially now.
We’re more a communications link between your clients and your business.
Whether you’re a self-employed plumber or an international corporation, your customer is your priority.
What level of service does your client deserve?
One more thing to think about before you go shopping for a Call Centre.
You’ll be hiring a company that will be the voice of your business.
Your callers don’t know they are calling anywhere but your office.
Of course, you want that “voice” to be courteous, professional and “human”?
Company culture is important at i24.
We treat our team members with the same respect we treat our clients.
A happy employee goes a long way to making a happy client.
There are many things to consider when outsourcing your customer service.
If you need help working your way through the options, give us call:
We’ll respond real fast.
